REQUEST: Kid's Blog/Email Pals - Social Exchange/Geography/Typing/Life Lessons

[queriquita]

I loved, loved, loved Kerileanne99's idea of the postcard exchange (http://forum.brillkids.com/general-discussion-b5/postcard-exchangegeograpy-lessons/msg82665/#msg82665), but as I was reading through it, I realized 1) Joey's penmanship isn't great, yet, and 2) postcards seem to be getting delayed or destroyed in the mail (no doubt due to the machine's eating them up and whatnot)

I'm not obsessed with ensuring Joey has great penmanship at this point.  Honestly, most kids learn to write when they're 5 or 6 years old, and they eventually do fine.  He enjoys the habit, but it's not really a big deal for me - I know with time it will improve.  Right now I'd rather concentrate on his ability to communicate his messages.  Another huge concern for me is having friends who are in his range of knowledge/experience, so I was hoping that an online pen-pal exchange would accomplish that, plus have the added benefit of the geography fun that the postcard exchange incorporates.

With that in mind, I was thinking of 'Blogging with Baby', although, Joey would take offense! LOL  So, maybe now that he's become fascinated with turning into a Big Boy (he just turned three *sigh*), and has an interest in typing, since he sees me on the computer so much, I will setup a blog for him - 'Blogging with Big Boy *sigh*.

I'm not sure if I will make it public or private.  My instincts are to make it private, but I'm not sure why. :-/  Would love your thoughts on this.

In any event, even if it were private, I'd love for you guys to have your little ones visit and type (or vlog - video log) replies to him :-)  It will be so exciting for him, I'm sure! And of course, if you're setting up blogs for your babies/big boys & girls, then I will definitely have Joey visit those, read them (fun!), and reply.

Yes, the more I type, the more excited I am about the idea :-)

I am soooooo looking forward to finally meeting everyone in person, and am really upset that I couldn't do more to make the conference happen this August, as I had so hoped.  At least this way, I will have more peace of mind knowing that the kiddos may foster truly stimulating friendships as they grow.  'Meeting' you all has really been inspirational and encouraging for me, and I can only imagine how wonderful it will be for my kids to have like-minded friends too :-)

[queriquita]

here's the site :-)  http://joeysjaunt.blogspot.com/  Hope you (and the kiddos, especially!) can visit and comment.

[queriquita]

Well, we've gotten our first visitor and thanks to the revolver map on our blog, it was a perfect opportunity to highlight our location and our visitor's location on a wonderful 3-d revolving globe.  so pleased :-)

I would love if some of you would be able to comment on his page and/or have your little ones comment to help encourage his desire to communicate with others through writing.

Also, let me know what you think.  I just threw it together quickly this morning, posted this evening, and added the visitor map to accomplish one of the goals - expanding his experiences to connect the global community to his personal world.  :-)

Hoping he can start meeting some of you soon!

[queriquita]

ok, i just went through and updated the post title. i'm hoping that the title was the issue and explanation for why no one's replied yet ;-P  if there's something obvious that i'm missing that is keeping everyone away from this idea, please let me know!   i am sick at the moment with short hours of sleep for the last several weeks, so who knows.  anyway, i'm hoping the title change does the trick. :-)

[lois1]

Hi, I just looked at your blog - what a nice idea. My little guy, wouldn't be able to contribute meaningfully just yet but I have bookmarked your blog & maybe when he's a little older we could connect. We are in Central America, did that come up on your map? That in itself would be kind of interesting for your little boy.

Take care,

[queriquita]

Lois, thanks so much for checking it out.  I don't know if it's the geek in me, but I am so excited about the global statistics breakdown that the map on the page includes!  here's the link for that (http://www.revolvermaps.com/?target=enlarge&i=aapgiihl0mh&nostars=false&color=ff0000&m=6&ref=null).  Maybe what makes it more exciting is knowing that someone visited from chiriqui - exactly where my husband's from (although he sometimes claims the capital, since he was raised later on there).  I can't wait to show him tomorrow "Look! someone visited from where papi grew up and where tia and tio and abuela, etc live" ... Loving it!!! :-D Thanks so much for visiting!!!

[lois1]

Really? Wow, it's a small world... I thought Chiriqueños were from their own country & not many admit to being from Panama, ha ha. I'm not sure why it shows Pueblo Nuevo as we actually live in Arraijan, close to the capital, but it's not that important. (I noticed it on my friend's blog too.) Well in the future that would definitely make an interesting connection between our boys.

The geek in you, ha ha, I think there's a secret one in all of us

Did I get you on the postcard exchange thread? I just PMd some folk but if you would like one (in an envelope) from us (me) just send me your details. 

[queriquita]

LOL!! Your comment made me laugh - I often think my husband IS from another world; although, he is quick to point out that it's me, not him ;-)

I didn't sign up for the postcards, but I will PM you.  Encouraging him to send a note in an envelope has it's benefits, too!

I must admit, though, I am really loving his blog!  Here are a few reasons why:

• the 3d globe really puts us in perspective with the rest of the world
• the stats on the 3d globe help us track and learn about various countries (and their flags)
• the stats at the bottom of the page aid in our counting & number manipulation - he's been riding around the neighborhood and stopping to tell me all the numbers (addresses) that he sees, now he can do it with the page stats, and we can manipulate the numbers to figure out how many people visited since we last checked in, since the month's started, etc
• he is encouraged to read/write/interact with others, and simultaneously come to learn the impact that an online presence may have
• he learns to understand highs and lows on a graph from the stats provided
• he loves watching videos of himself, but i haven't been doing a good job of taking images/vids of him or his sister.  hopefully now, if he's encouraged to capture moments too, then i will do a better job of being ready!  this week he's already started telling me, 'mom, take a picture!' i don't want these moments to fly by, preserved only as fading memories :-/
• i'm sure there are other reasons, but i think i've listed enough :-)

Anyway, thanks so much for all who've visited so far.  I'm looking forward to my chat with him this weekend about what's transpired on his page and what it means. 

And @Bella - thank you so much for the comment!! Who knows how long I would have remained oblivious   I've gone and made those corrections :-)

[Kerileanne99]

Hi Queriquita!
What fun
We visited again this morning and were able to see the video of him on his bike. So cute!
Alex watched and she wants to mommy to record her climbing to post...

Suggestion? How about putting the site into your signature area? As the thread gets longer it will keep people from having to search for it and will remind them whenever you post

[queriquita]

@Kerileanne99, great suggestion! I've already done it.  Updated the profile while I was at it, including the avatar (it automatically selected the feet for me, which I didn't have before).  Anyway, just a funny comment: Would you believe that all this time I thought your avatar was actually a picture of you and Alex?? LOL!  Yes, I knew some, which I saw repeated, were pre-selected avatars, but most people's avatar's I thought were of them and/or their little ones.  Clearly, I had never checked out the available selections!  No wonder everyone's pics looked so professional; Now it all makes sense. :-P 

Also, I'm tickled that Alex would want to post a vid of her climbing.  I know Joey would love to see it :-)  I know some people won't feel comfortable having their children online publicly, but I would still like to encourage Joey to connect and meet 'similarly accelerated' children.  I think it's important to be able to connect with a wide range of people, and expect that he will learn to throttle/scale back; but I don't want him to feel that he is 'alone' and that there don't exist other children who take a concept and run with it in whatever his interests may be.  That's probably one of the reasons I'm so relieved to have found all of you, because it gives me hope that he'll be challenged by his peers to grow, too.

Anyway, if Alex wants to type a few sentences and/or share a video on Joey's blog, please feel free to do so!  If you create a blog for Alex, I'd love to get the link.  :-)  And if you'd rather he remain out of the public's eyes online, then that makes sense.  I'm looking into options for possibly creating an additional email that's "for him".  My log in credentials, but where he could receive messages just for him - even from me.  What are your thoughts on that. 

Anyone reading, feel free to comment!

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